A Summer's Cycling Reminiscence
Cite this book
Citation
F. F. Peard. A Summer's Cycling Reminiscence. 1891. cyclearchive.com, https://cyclearchive.com/books/a-summers-cycling-reminiscence-f-peard-1891/
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Contents
- The party of four leaves Toronto on 27 May 1890, by Niagara and New York to the steamer for Glasgow. Through Greenock customs and a stay in Glasgow, where the machines are awaited from Coventry until they arrive on the Saturday for the Scottish Cyclists' Meet at Edinburgh.
- The Scottish Cyclists' Meet at Edinburgh, then the city's sights: Princes Street, St Giles, the Castle, the Forth Bridge in fog and a Methodist sermon. The ride south from Edinburgh through Galashiels and Melrose Abbey to Abbotsford, St Mary's Loch and the Grey Mare's Tail, to Moffat.
- A storm forces a halt at Johnston Bridge, where the Murphie family shelter them and Peard plays their piano. Then Carlisle, Keswick, Kendal, Lancaster and Preston, the clog-wearers at Charley, a Sunday in Manchester, Buxton, Haddon Hall, Derby and Lichfield, where the hotel bill proves a surprise.
- A hot ride to Coventry, where the Rudge and Singer works are visited with very different receptions. Then Kenilworth and its castle, Warwick, Stratford-on-Avon and Holy Trinity, a chance meeting with a lord, the carpet works at Kidderminster, Worcester, and a train to Bristol.
- Weston-super-Mare, then a head-wind day to Exeter. A wrong turn at Newton Abbott, Plymouth, Torquay, Honiton and Shaftesbury, where McBride takes a fall; Stonehenge and Amesbury, then the train into London. McLean arrives, and the letters bring news of the death of Ed. Coates.
- Ten days in London: a Savoy performance of The Gondoliers, St Paul's, Westminster Abbey and Spurgeon's church, and the Anerley club's G. H. Smith as guide. A ride to Brighton and its Aquarium, the steamer from Newhaven to Dieppe, then Arques, Rouen, Pont de l'Arche, St Germain (a dispute over the bill) and Versailles, to Paris.
- The return to England by Brighton and the Ripley Road to Croydon, where a Hillier camp invitation is missed. A rough crossing to Dublin and a wet day there, then Belfast, the Arrow to Glasgow and a visit near Newcastle. Rain at Edinburgh, then the State of Nebraska from Glasgow past Moville and Green Castle to New York at the end of August.
- C. Langley's 400-mile solo ride in 1890 on an ordinary. A train past the Paris pavé to Ozoir-la-Ferrière, then east through Champagne with a 170-kilometre day to Void, and the German frontier with a passport check at Saarburg. Strasburg and its cathedral, a race against the electric railway to Kehl, Rastatt and Graben, and Mannheim, where he meets six Scotch schoolmasters and sails down the Rhine to Cologne.
- R. H. McBride's solo ride after the party parts at Paris: by train to Villeneuve, a day's riding through Melun, Sens and Dijon to Tonnerre, then by train through Switzerland past Lausanne and Bienne to Strasburg. Then by wheel through Heidelberg and Darmstadt to Mainz, a day on the Rhine steamer, then through Liege, Aix-la-Chapelle, Malines and Ghent to Ostend and the steamer to Dover, and on by Canterbury and Chatham to London, about 1,400 miles in all, with closing notes on the route and costs.